St. Mary’s stuns Salesian, girls pull off sweep over McKinleyville

St. Mary’s (23-9), a talented defensive squad that has under-achieved much of the season, put it all together at the right time and on Saturday defeated the defending state champion Salesian Pride 52-49 for the North Coast Section Division IV crown at St. Mary’s College.

It was the fourth meeting of the year for the Bay Shore Athletic League rivals and first St. Mary’s victory, breaking Salesian’s 20-game win streak.

It also broke a seven-game losing streak to the Pride over three seasons.

The Panthers got a spirited effort all-around, especially down low where they were giving up a lot of height to 6-foot-8 Washington bound Desmond Simmons and 6-9 sophomore Freddie Tagaloa.

But St. Mary’s responded with tenacious interior play from 6-4 twins Demetrius Lee (12 points) and Dominique Lee (11 points), along with 5-10 guard Justin Pollard (12 points), who came off the bench to drain 7 of 9 free throws in the fourth quarter.

Salesian fought back from a 42-32 deficit to start the fourth quarter behind sophomore guard Dominic Artis (11 points) and Simmons and Tagaloa, 13 points each, but they simply couldn’t get over the hump.

Down 38-30 with 4:43 to play, Tagaloa, a 280-pound giant, started a 6-0 run with a 3-point play, cutting the lead to 47-44 with 2:41 left.

The Pride eventually cut it to 50-49 with 9.7 seconds left on a putback by Mario Dunn, but Pollard made two free throws with 8.5 seconds left.

An off-balance 3-pointer under heavy pressure by Simmons with two seconds left hit the backboard and rim and Salesian couldn’t secure the rebound.

The final horn sounded and despite make just 13 of 30 free throws, St. Mary’s had prevailed.

Demetrius Lee led the second-half charge, scoring all 12 of his points after intermission.

“At halftime I just thought I wasn’t doing enough,” he said. “I just felt I needed to do a little more. We all did. They beat seven times in a row. It feels great to get one on them, but we know we’ll probably play them again. We’ll enjoy it tonight but know we have to play even better.”

Mellis said the loss will be a good learning lesson.

“We’ve won a lot of games like tonight, turning it on late,” he said. “Tonight it came back to burn us.”

Was his team complacent with three previous wins over St. Mary’s this season?

“No, this is a rivalry game,” Mellis said. “This is for the NCS title. No excuses at all.”

St. Mary’s girls 53, McKinleyville 47

When St. Mary’s College-bound Danielle Mauldin scored off a steal with 4:03 left, top-seeded St. Mary’s-Berkeley took its first lead.

St. Mary’s, 28-3, overcame a 7-0 deficit to start, trailed 15-10 after one quarter, 27-19 at the half, and 42-34 entering the final period.

“Going into the fourth I told the girls down eight is only four baskets,” St. Mary’s coach Nate Fripp said. “We didn’t panic and kept plugging away.”

St. Mary’s also played smothering defense in the final period.

Until Kaylee Davis made a 3-pointer with six seconds left, McKinleyville, 27-3, only had two free throws in the fourth quarter and those came at the 1:54 mark.